Israel Convicts Jew in Bombing That Maimed Arab

The last member of a Jewish underground group to be arrested for attacking Palestinians in the early 1980s was convicted Wednesday of belonging to a terrorist organization and committing aggravated assault.

American-born Ira Rappaport, formerly of New York City, was found guilty of involvement in the 1980 booby-trap bombing of a car belonging to Bassam Shaka, former mayor of the West Bank town of Nablus. Shaka’s legs were blown off in the explosion.

“I knew that some day I would have to pay for it by probably sitting in jail,” Rappaport said in a telephone interview. “It’s not easy and I’m not happy about it, but this is what’s called suffering for the love of Israel.”

Freed on $10,000 Bail

Court clerk Moshe Shamash said Rappaport was allowed to go free on $10,000 bail after his conviction in Jerusalem District Court. He is to be taken into custody on Dec. 21, two days before his scheduled sentencing.

Rappaport said the June, 1980, bomb attacks on three Palestinian mayors, including Shaka, “led without a doubt to a very, very peaceful time for the next year and a half.” He claimed the attacks were necessary because “in 1979-80 the government made no attempt to maintain law and order” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.